A French native with US nationality, Jean-Philippe grew up in the soaring peak playground of the Pyrenees.
Alongside that native knowledge of the area, it was also working as an elite special force mountain commando in the Alps that gifted him vital mountain guiding and rescue experience. Since then, Jean-Philippe has spent a lifetime traversing these mountains on his beloved bike. A professional and highly experienced cycling coach with dual guide licenses in both France and the USA, Jean-Philippe's local knowledge of the roads, routes, trails and tight mountain passes across the Pyrenees, Alps, Corsica, and all mountain regions makes him a vault of invaluable insider knowledge. This native expertise combined with decades of cycling and mountain rescue experience ensures that he can guide you safely to glory, across some of Europe's most challenging and enchanting cycling trails.
Born and raised in Japan, Yumi holds both a teaching license and a master's degree in linguistics.
Yumi found her love for sport at a young age and has participated in competitive events all her life. After finishing her studies she left Japan for Central America, where her love of logistics and finely-tuned organization skills lent itself perfectly to her work in cultural communication, PR, business logistics and more. Later extensive travels across multiple continents only added to this skillset, along with pursuing her personal passion for cycling. Yumi's continued logistical expertise has seen her synchronizing large-scale cycling events and an entire cycling club in North-America. Her multifaceted approach to perfect organization, her commitment to detail and her warm dedication to our guests is one of the hallmarks that gifts VéloTopo its ability to curate out of this world adventures. From fine-tuning the details to legendary logistics planning, with Yumi behind the scenes, your tour won't skip a beat.